Living in a red state? Concerned about your rights in Trump’s America? Able and interested in relocating?
Let me humbly invite you to the great state of New York.
I have often spoken about this before, here on Tumblr, but after the election results it feels more important than ever. Allow me to state my case:
ONE. We signed a "safe haven" law into effect in the summer of 2023. It states we refuse to cooperate with other states’ transphobic laws.
TWO. Other transgender people have been moving here for some time, and our queer communities are growing.
THREE. We just passed a proposal expanding the Equal Rights Amendment of our state constitution. This will extend its protections to cover gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, disability, age, reproductive health decisions, and more. Transgender people are now explicitly protected from discrimination by law. Come to our state, you can sue the transphobes! The text of the amendment can be found here.
FOUR. Our state government offers a rare opportunity right now, with a lot of civil service positions open to the public for hiring until May 2025. I can't lay hands on specifics about LGBTQIA+ protections, and the government is BIG and varies from agency to agency, but it's generally a queer-friendly workplace in my experience. Union jobs with good benefits that include a defined benefit pension.
FIVE. We are a big state with lots of places to go. The living expenses upstate are fairly reasonable I think, though still higher than a lot of places. We’ve got the Adirondacks, the Catskills, and the Finger Lakes. If you want to visit NYC, there are plenty of places with lower-than-NYC costs of living that are still within driving distance.
SIX. I just learned, pulling this together, that Ithaca passed its own safe haven law in 2023. I'm not sure how much of a difference it makes legally, given the state law, but it does let you know that the city of Ithaca specifically wants to protect and welcome the transgender community. Ithaca is the home of Cornell University, a hip college town with lots of farm-to-table places and a hippy dippy vibe.
If you can't relocate, or aren't ready to relocate, just know that we care about you. We will keep fighting for you. We are on your side. And we're going to be here, ready to welcome you, for a long, long time.
